In an effort to avoid folding laundry declutter my mind, I thought I'd let you all in on some thoughts that have been floating around in there lately. I've got news about a giveaway, an upcoming author feature, an award and lots of other random stuff, so here we go:

* I love magazines, so much so that I subscribe to at least 20 of them. Of these, only 1 - Bookmarks - is dedicated solely to books/reading. Book review magazines just aren't very prevalent (Anyone have any recommendations?), so I get excited when my favorite magazines allot at least a little bit of space to books. I recently picked up the March issue of Good Housekeeping, and was excited to see a short story by one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. I love Jodi because she's fearless. Her books tackle tough issues, which she examines with both honesty and understanding. To me, her stories ring with authenticity. Perhaps you can begin to see why I was so disappointed in "Spring Break," which concerns a mom who leaves her family one day out of the blue and takes up residence in a seaside Ritz Carlton. Although she scares her family to death, causing emotional damage to her husband and children, everything wraps up nicely in the end. Now, I like happy endings, but I excpected more from Picoult. Did anyone else read this? What did you think? I thought Jodi whimped out on this one.

* I've been chatting with some authors lately - did you catch Jason Wright's reaction to my review of Christmas Jars? I think the guy has a great sense of humor, and I'm honored that he stopped by my humble little blog. Stay tuned, because I will be talking to author Amanda Ford on March 5. She will be on a blog tour to promote her book, Kiss Me, I'm Single: An Ode to the Single Life - I've been perusing it, and I think it's full of some great wisdom. Stand by for a review and hopefully an interview with this fun writer.

* Many, many thanks to Kristina for honoring me with my first-ever blog award. Now, I'm busily trying to choose 10 bloggers who make my day. I have TONS of book blogs on my feeds list, so this is an amazingly tough job. Hopefully, I'll have that post up tomorrow. Thanks again, Kristina, this award definitely made my day!

* Finally, I just finished The Bookseller of Kabul by Asne Seierstad, which is fascinating. My review should be up tonight (that's if I stop procrastinating on the laundry); as part of it, I'm going to be giving away my copy of the book. If you are interested in entering the drawing, all you have to do is wait (hopefully not too long) until my review is up, then make a comment. Simple, right? I (or most likely, one of my kids) will draw a name on February 25. If you're not interested in the book, I would still love your comment :)

* Crap! I think that's it. Looks like it's back to laundry for me. I hope the rest of you are doing something exciting - like reading a great book. I'll catch you later when I'm a little more caught up on my housework!

Christmas Jars by Jason Wright is the kind of novel I hate - it's predictable, it's sappy, and it's wrapped up in a way that is completely unrealistic. In short, it's the kind of book that sacrifices good storytelling for sentimental sermonizing. In fact, I think I would have liked the book a whole lot more if Wright had written up his ideas as a personal essay instead of trying to integrate it into a fictional story.

His tale concerns Hope Jensen, a young reporter who has just lost her mother to cancer. Although Louise was not her birth mother, she discovered an infant Hope abandoned at a chicken joint and raised her as her own. Hope is devastated by her loss, a sadness that deepens as Christmas approaches. On Christmas Eve, Hope's heart cracks open a little further when she arrives home to find her apartment ransacked. What little she had of value is gone, including the $500 she had hidden in a drawer. As the police poke through the crime scene for evidence, Hope makes a discovery of her own - a brown paper sack is sitting by her front door. In it sits a glass jar filled with money; the only clue she can find are the words "Christmas Jar" painted on it in red and green letters. She can't imagine who left it at her front door or why. When she questions her neighbors, one of them points out the obvious: "Somebody was thinking of you. How lucky!" (24)

Hope's journalistic instincts kick in, and she jumps in to solve the mystery of the Christmas Jar. Searching in her newspaper's archives, she discovers a handful of letters to the editor from other jar recipients, thanking their anonymous benefactors. She rushes to interview the grateful citizens, but no one knows anything save that the jars arrived on Christmas Eve when they were in need. One lady even warns her, "This ain't about gettin' credit. This just don't belong in the papers" (31). Only one man has even a shred of information, but it turns out to be the proverbial gold mine.

Suddenly, Hope finds herself in the midst of the loving Maxwell Family, who reluctantly share the secret of the Christmas Jar tradition. Not only do they take her into their confidence, but they envelop her into the heart of their family. The only problem is they think Hope's a college student interviewing them for a research paper on small, family-operated businesses. They have no idea she's a reporter who's developing a story about their secret crusades to help people with their Christmas Jars. To get the story, which has a chance of earning a spot above the fold on the newspaper's front page (Hope's lifelong dream), she knows she may have to betray the Maxwells, whom she's come to think of as family. In the process, Hope will learn just how far-reaching the Christmas Jar tradition really is.

I actually love the idea of the Christmas Jar (I won't tell you how it works, since I hate spoilers) - I think it's sweet and fun. I just wasn't impressed with Wright's ability to describe it in a story. His writing is too generic, his characters have about as much individuality as paper dolls, and his plot is as neatly packaged as a professionally-wrapped Christmas gift. The story relies so heavily on coincidence that it's just not believable. In addition, it's so saccharine it makes my head hurt. I know the book has touched people with its message, I just wish it wasn't trying so hard to be inspirational. All the sentimentality just killed the story for me.

As much as I hate to admit it, my eyes did well up a couple times as I was reading Christmas Jars, so I guess it has some power despite all its flaws. It's a short book and one you probably won't regret reading - I'm just warning you that it's not great literature by any means. Having said that, I do want to recommend going to Jason Wright's site and reading the real stories of people who have given and received Christmas jars. If Wright needs an inspirational story, obviously all he has to do is turn to real people - in future, he should leave fiction to the pros.

Grade: C

Note: Many thanks to Shadow Mountain Publishing , who sent me this book to review.

If you happened to read my last rant about cozy mysteries, you know I have just about given up on the genre. I'm tired of the fluff - poor writing, predictable plots, depthless characters and all the rest. From Joanna Fluke to J.B. Stanley to M.C. Beaton to Tamar Myers, I have scoured my library for decent cozy reads, but to no avail. Then, I stumbled upon Karen MacInerney (actually, Kay recommended her, so I put her on my list for the Triple 8 Challenge) and ... voila! My faith has been restored.

(image from Barnes & Noble)

Murder on the Rocks is the first book in MacInerney's Gray Whale Inn Mystery series. It stars Natalie Barnes, a Texas native who moves to rugged Cranberry Island, Maine to open a B & B. Accessible only by boat, the island is as much a refuge for humans as for the black-chinned terns (a fictional species) that nest in its rocky landscape. Although the natives still regard her with the suspicion they accord all "outsiders," Natalie feels at home on the beautiful island.

When Bertrand Katz, a wealthy developer, waltzes into the inn with blueprints for a mega resort he plans to build next door to the Gray Whale, Natalie is naturally upset. It's bad enough that he wants to destroy the terns' nesting grounds, but he also wants to raze Natalie's B&B to make way for a parking lot. He even has the gall to stay at her inn, despite the fact that his son lives within walking distance. She needs the money badly enough to wait on the oily developer, but she refuses to give into his schmoozing. Despite protests from her and other islanders, however, Bertrand's project receives a green light. Sunk, Natalie prepares to lose her inn, her nature paradise, and her financial stability.

Things began to look up - in a morbid sort of way - when Natalie finds Bertrand's dead body broken on the cliffs near her inn. She knows the resort project will lose some of its oomph without its ardent champion. Maybe, just maybe, she can save her inn and her beloved terns, too.

Although no one will miss the pompous developer, the police look into his death all the same. Soon, it's labeled a homicide and our heroine becomes a prime suspect. She's not alone in the line up, however, as nearly everyone seems to have a reason to want Bertrand dead. There's Barbara Eggleby, for instance, who tried desperately to outbid the developer and save the terns' nesting ground. Or long-time resident Claudette White, who vehemently opposes any kind of development on her island. Of course, there's also Estelle, Bertrand's beautiful daughter-in-law and her husband, Bertrand's bumbling son. Unfortunately for Natalie, the greasy, chain-smoking police Sargeant in charge of the investigation has it out for her.

Apparently, he's not the only one. People are creeping into the inn at night, throwing rocks through windows and sabotaging her bike. That doesn't stop her from following her own leads, exploring any angle that might clear her name. But, digging into islanders' secrets only stirs up trouble, and soon enough Natalie finds herself hunted by the police and Bertrand's ruthless killer.

Murder on the Rocks is not a perfect cozy, but it's the best example I've ever seen, uh, read. The old developer vs. conservationist conundrum is not a new idea, but the plot has enough surprises to make it original. The writing needs some polish, but it was good enough to pull me into the story and keep me there (I read the book in one day). I also liked MacInerney's characterization - her cast was colorful, but realistic. The one thing I really wanted was more background on the main character, Natalie. Although we're told she moved from Texas to heal her broken heart, we never get the rest of the story or any other info on her old life - I wondered about her old flame, her reasons for moving to Maine, what she did for work/school before buying the inn, etc. Because of this void, I didn't feel like I knew her as well as I wanted to. As for the killer's identity, it was pretty obvious, but not so much that it ruined the story.

My biggest beef with the book is an issue that plagues most cozies - a narrator who for no apparent reason decides to ignore the police and investigate on her own. I realize this is one of the main components of a cozy, but I think an author really has to work hard to make the situation believable. In the case of Natalie Barnes, proprieter of The Gray Whale Inn, it makes no sense that she would run all over the island gathering clues and solving the case. I get that the police investigator is not her biggest fan (although a plausible reason was never given for his dislike - did they have a previous run-in? Does he despise women? Why is he so bent on convicting her?), but her sexy neighbor is the island's deputy. Although he is not technically on the case, wouldn't it make more sense if she brought her information to him? So, that bugged me through the entire book; it would have been much more realistic for me if she and her neighbor worked together to solve the mystery.

When all is said and done, I really enjoyed this quick, comfy mystery. I liked the setting, enjoyed the characters and salivated over the recipes - did I mention them? In a word: Yum. In my humble little opinion, this book is the best of its kind. It's not perfect by any means, but in a genre full of clumsily-written fluff, this one stands out. Let's say it's as warm and satisfying as one of Natalie's famous Cranberry Island Blackout Brownies.

Note: Another thing I like about Karen MacInerney is that she seems very accessible. She maintains a website and two blogs, Poisoned Pen Letters and Cozy Chicks Blog. The former is her personal blog, while the latter is a joint project with six other writers. Of the six, the only one I have heard of is J.B. Stanley, whose writing I wasn't very impressed with - you can read my review of her Carbs & Cadavers to see what I mean. Still, if you like authors' blogs, be sure to check 'em out.

Grade: B